Thursday, November 9, 2017

Many years ago I started adding native plants to my landscape. At first it was because I didn't want to fuss with plants and natives need no fussing. Gradually I came to appreciate the butterflies they attracted.

Last fall, I went to a lecture by an entomologist named Douglas Tallamy who convinced me I needed to have as many native plants as possible for the sake of the native birds.

So, this fall I hired Susan Noblet - a native landscape designer.

She convinced me I needed to plant larger specimens and install deer fence.

I gathered the plants:

Smooth Aster

New England Aster

Little Bluestem

Ironweed

Butterfly Milkweed

Tall Coreopsis

Rattlesnake Master

Etc.

My longtime landscaping company helped me clean the non-natives out of the beds and install the new plants.

Above is the cleaned East bed with the plants set out.

Below is the cleaned West bed with the plants set out.

Above is a view of the deer fence installed around the existing Spicebush (below the Pines) - they are currently about 3 feet tall, even though they are at least 5 years old due to deer browsing.

We planted a Black Chokeberry inside the fenced area.

The East Bed with the deer fence installed is to the left of the wooden steps.

Here is the fenced in West Bed.

We've had some lovely rain to help the newly planted roots grow over the winter.